This invention relates to a method and apparatus for use in the automated processing of parts having a body and members depending therefrom. In particular, the method and apparatus of the instant invention are particularly adaptable to the type of machine disclosed in the above cross references to the prior art.
Prior art, high speed electrical component sequencing and inserting machines have been designed for population of printed circuit boards at a rate of approximately 7,000 electrical components per hour. A machine for achieving such speeds is inherently complex and involves many different interacting parts. Proper interaction of all the parts in the machine is dependent upon the manufacturing tolerances of those parts, with such tolerances often being additive and changeable due to the wear and tear on the machine during constant operation thereof. In fact, it is often necessary to sacrifice speed and populate circuit boards at a reduced rate (e.i., 6,500) to keep the machine running efficiently.
Accordingly, there is a constant effort to produce a simpler machine having less moving parts, hence, less down time, which will operate at the same or greater speeds.
An object of the instant invention is to provide an improved high speed electrical component processing machine which can attain and surpass the processing rates of prior art machines while having less moving parts and, hence, less down time resulting therefrom.
In addition to increasing the rate of population of circuit boards, the industry is constantly attempting to more densely populate a particular circuit board with numerous electrical components; and it is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus which reduces the clearances needed for insertion of adjacent components on a circuit board.
These and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
Under direction of a machine controller, conveyor mounted clips sequentially present electrical components to an unload station while holding the components by their leads, and the components are centered relative to a loader assembly by lateral displacement of the clip relative to a loader axis. Thereafter, a loader assembly clamps the leads of the component and transfers the component to a load station and into engagement with the jaws of an insertion head. The loader assembly is then actuated to drive the leads of the component into the jaws of the insertion head for subsequent insertion of the leads into holes of a printed circuit board. The component, gripped in the jaws of the insert head, is oriented about an insert axis, according to a controller and prior to insertion. Having inserted a component into a circuit board, the tooling assembly of the insertion head is designed to withdraw from the inserted component with a minimal amount of clearance needed between the inserted component and a previously inserted component.
The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to the others, as well as the apparatus embodying features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which are adapted to effect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosure. The scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.